The background description provided herein is solely for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the illustrative embodiments of the disclosure. Aspects of the background description are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the claimed subject matter.
Scavenging animals such as squirrels, rodents or other wildlife frequently climb vertical structures such as fruit trees and the like to scavenge fruit from the trees or otherwise cause damage to the structures. In many areas, it is practically impossible to grow fruits or nuts on a small backyard tree because of scavenging animals such as squirrels, rodents or other wildlife which climb into the tree to eat or otherwise destroy the fruits or nuts. Although bird feeders and other wildlife feeders are popular, squirrels and other unintended wildlife often eat the feed and/or damage the feeders which contain the feed. Various other vertical structures may also be damaged by climbing animals.
Various animal deterring devices have been developed for the purpose of blocking or deterring scavenging animals from access to vertical structures. However, conventional animal deterring devices may have drawbacks. For example, scavenging animals may be capable of evading or circumventing these devices. Falling fruit, nuts, leaves, twigs or other debris may compromise their effectiveness. Moreover, conventional devices may not be easily adapted to different-sized or shaped vertical structures.
Accordingly, animal deterrent apparatuses which can be deployed around a tree or other protected structure, which cannot be circumvented, the effectiveness of which are not compromised by falling debris and which can be easily adapted to fit any size or shape of vertical structure may be desirable for some applications to prevent animals from accessing and ascending such structures.